Mike is a well-traveled Maker versed in all sorts of digital fabrication, DIY drones, and robotics, and he's a really nice guy. We were also super impressed with the Make team's branded puffy jackets, super stylish!

We ran into him both at the ATX Hackerspace and at the SXSW Create pavilion, where we got a chance to go into detail about our new Easel software and the future of digital manufacturing. Check out his article here!

By the time Mike stopped back again with a camera, it was warm enough to shed his nice coat and our booth had a line out the tent to try out Easel. In the middle of the fray Zach and Mike had to shout a bit to be heard above the Shapeokos carving into wood, but it was pretty awesome to see so many people making things.

Harry McCracken is an editor at large at TIME. He writes about personal technology for the magazine. I caught up with him at SxSW 2014. He’s been a gadget nerd since the late 1970s and is the founder of Technologizer and the former editor in chief at PC World magazine. His interest in technology and his experience watching and writing about the computer revolution gave him the context to write a tremendous article about the launch of Easel and the rise of desktop digital manufacturing.

The Inventables team is going on the road starting this week, headed down to the South by Southwest Interactive festival.

We're doing a number of free events in addition to the ones specifically for attendees with badges. And we've got a big announcement to make and a great demo for you to participate in, so if you're in the area you should really come say hi!

Here's the schedule:

Thursday, March 6th: A talk by Zach Kaplan, interactive demo, and party at the ATX Hackerspace. Details here, free with RSVP.

March 7-9, 11am-6pm: We'll have a booth at SxSW Create. The event is free and there's going to be some amazing exhibitors, definitely check this one out. Details here.

March 7, 7-10pm: Party and demo at MakeATX. Details here, free with RSVP.

March 9-12, 9am-5pm: We'll be running intermittent live demos at the Chicago Made booth at the SxSW Trade show. Details here, festival passholders only.

March 11, 930am: Our own CEO Zach Kaplan is giving one of the featured talks at SxSW where he's going to discuss the current state of the 3rd Industrial Revolution and officially make the big announcement! Details here, festival passholders only.